Florida
returns to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2009 and makes its 13th
overall appearance in program history. The No. 9-seeded Gators (19-12) play No.
8-seeded Ohio State (26-6, 11-5 Big Ten) in the first round on Sunday, March 18
at 12:15 p.m. ET.

This
is the first-ever meeting between Florida and Ohio State, which is ranked No. 16/18
in the national rankings.

The
Gators have won six of their last 10 games, with each of the four setbacks on
the road against nationally ranked opponents and three of those four by a
combined total of 14 points.

Florida’s
inclusion in the NCAA field is the program’s fifth consecutive postseason
appearance - every year under head coach Amanda Butler. She is the only
one of the eight head coaches who has done so. In fact, Butler was the first
Gator head coach to earn a postseason berth in her first year with the program.

While
Florida has made 12 previous trips to the NCAA Tournament, the current group of
Gators is a bit lean on NCAA experience. Only seniors Ndidi Madu and Azania
Stewart have played in an NCAA game. During their freshmen year both saw
action in each of the Gator’s 2009 NCAA Tournament games.

Madu
scored two points in eight minutes versus Temple in the first round and played
five minutes and attempted one shot against eventual NCAA-champion Connecticut
in the second round. Stewart saw 13 minutes of court time against Temple and
did not attempt a shot, but did collect one offensive rebound. She converted
both free throw attempts against UConn in six minutes of play for her first
postseason points.

Ohio
State is making its school-record 10th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance,
all coming under Jim Foster who spent the previous 11 years as Vanderbilt’s
head coach.

The
Buckeyes are led by a pair of 20-point scoring guards in senior Samantha Prahalis
and junior Tayler Hill, who average 20.1 and 20.3 points per game,
respectively. Prahalis was named the 2012 Big Ten Player of the Year, while
Hill was honored to the league’s first team and to the All-Defensive Team. Junior
guard Amber Stokes, the 2012 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, contributes
7.4 points and 3.7 rebounds per game .

Madu
and Stewart are two of five seniors on the Gators roster, joined by Deana
Allen, Lanita Bartley and Jordan Jones.

As
a team, Florida is holding opponents to 60.1 points per game - the
second-fewest in a season in the 38-year history of the program. The 1983-84
squad held its foes to 59.1 points per game. Opponents are shooting 37.9
percent from the floor, the lowest since the 2000-01 Gators limited foes to a
36.9 percent clip.

Ohio
State averages 75.1 points as the nation’s 11th-ranked offensive,
while hitting 37.9 percent from the floor.

From
beyond the arc, opponents are connecting on just 29.6 percent, the third-lowest
accuracy mark from the three-point arc in program history and the lowest since
the program-standard 25.8 percent set by the 1997-98 team. The 1987-88 club
limited foes to a 27.7 percent mark in the inaugural year of the three-pointer.

Junior
forward Jennifer George continues to lead UF in scoring (13.0 ppg) and
rebounding (9.0 rpg), an effort that also is second in the Southeastern
Conference. She has posted 15 double-doubles this year - and 19 in her
career. George also has a team-high 23 double-figure scoring games.

Jones has been doing a bit
of everything for the Gators this year, contributing 11.6 points, in addition
to 3.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.1 steals, while hitting 66-of-189 treys
(34.9%). Jones has hit from long range in 14 straight games - the fourth
double-figure streak of her career.

Bartley has stepped up her game
during her second and final season wearing the Gator orange & blue. She’s
Florida’s third-leading scorer (9.1 ppg) along with 5.1 rebounds (third most)
and leads the club in assists (3.2 apg) and steals (1.9 pg). The 5-foot-6
Bartley also tied for UF’s second-leading rebounder (5.1 rpg) in SEC games.

Allen, who was honored as
the 2012 SEC Co-6th Woman of the Year, has provided Florida
with a definite spark off the bench in every game she’s played this year,
averaging 7.6 points (fifth on team) and 4.8 rebounds (third on team), with 1.4
steals (second on the team). She hits 30.0 percent from the three-point arc
(the third-highest on the team) and 72.1 percent from the free throw line
(highest percentage).

Stewart has been a defensive
fixture in the paint for Florida during her career, blocking 203 shots during
her four-year career, with 2.2 per game this season. Madu is contributing
5.0 points and 4.2 rebounds and is coming off a strong performance at the SEC
Tournament, where she averaged 6.0 rebounds.

Florida
is 3-1 all-time when playing in the state of Ohio, including a 2-0 record in
postseason games. The Gators defeated Bowling Green on its home court on March
17, 1993 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. On March 15, 2000, Florida
won at Dayton in the first round of the Postseason WNIT.

Butler
was a junior on the Gator’s inaugural NCAA Tournament team that played Bowling
Green in 1993.